Surah 31. Luqman

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Verses [Section]: 1-11[1], 12-19 [2], 20-30 [3], 31-34 [4]

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Quran Text of Verse 1-1131. Luqman Page 41131. Luqmanبِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِالٓمّٓۚAlif Lam Mim تِلْكَTheseاٰیٰتُ(are) Versesالْكِتٰبِ(of) the Bookالْحَكِیْمِۙthe Wise هُدًیA guidanceوَّ رَحْمَةًand a mercyلِّلْمُحْسِنِیْنَۙfor the good-doers الَّذِیْنَThose whoیُقِیْمُوْنَestablishالصَّلٰوةَthe prayerوَ یُؤْتُوْنَand giveالزَّكٰوةَzakahوَ هُمْand theyبِالْاٰخِرَةِin the Hereafterهُمْ[they]یُوْقِنُوْنَؕbelieve firmly اُولٰٓىِٕكَThoseعَلٰی(are) onهُدًیguidanceمِّنْfromرَّبِّهِمْtheir Lordوَ اُولٰٓىِٕكَand thoseهُمُ[they]الْمُفْلِحُوْنَ (are) the successful وَ مِنَAnd ofالنَّاسِthe mankindمَنْ(is he) whoیَّشْتَرِیْpurchasesلَهْوَidle talesالْحَدِیْثِidle talesلِیُضِلَّto misleadعَنْfromسَبِیْلِ(the) pathاللّٰهِ(of) Allahبِغَیْرِwithoutعِلْمٍ ۖۗknowledgeوَّ یَتَّخِذَهَاand takes itهُزُوًا ؕ(in) ridiculeاُولٰٓىِٕكَThoseلَهُمْfor themعَذَابٌ(is) a punishmentمُّهِیْنٌ humiliating وَ اِذَاAnd whenتُتْلٰیare recitedعَلَیْهِto himاٰیٰتُنَاOur Versesوَلّٰیhe turns awayمُسْتَكْبِرًاarrogantlyكَاَنْas ifلَّمْnotیَسْمَعْهَاhe (had) heard themكَاَنَّas ifفِیْۤinاُذُنَیْهِhis earsوَقْرًا ۚ(is) deafnessفَبَشِّرْهُSo give him tidingsبِعَذَابٍof a punishmentاَلِیْمٍ painful اِنَّIndeedالَّذِیْنَthose whoاٰمَنُوْاbelieveوَ عَمِلُواand doالصّٰلِحٰتِrighteous deedsلَهُمْfor themجَنّٰتُ(are) Gardensالنَّعِیْمِۙ(of) Delight خٰلِدِیْنَ(To) abide foreverفِیْهَا ؕin itوَعْدَ(The) Promise of Allahاللّٰهِ(The) Promise of Allahحَقًّا ؕ(is) trueوَ هُوَAnd Heالْعَزِیْزُ(is) the All-Mightyالْحَكِیْمُ the All-Wise خَلَقَHe createdالسَّمٰوٰتِthe heavensبِغَیْرِwithoutعَمَدٍpillarsتَرَوْنَهَاthat you seeوَ اَلْقٰیand has castفِیinالْاَرْضِthe earthرَوَاسِیَfirm mountainsاَنْlestتَمِیْدَit (might) shakeبِكُمْwith youوَ بَثَّand He dispersedفِیْهَاin itمِنْfromكُلِّeveryدَآبَّةٍ ؕcreatureوَ اَنْزَلْنَاAnd We sent downمِنَfromالسَّمَآءِthe skyمَآءًwaterفَاَنْۢبَتْنَاthen We caused to growفِیْهَاthereinمِنْofكُلِّeveryزَوْجٍkindكَرِیْمٍ noble هٰذَاThisخَلْقُ(is the) creationاللّٰهِ(of) AllahفَاَرُوْنِیْSo show Meمَا ذَاwhatخَلَقَhave createdالَّذِیْنَthoseمِنْbesides Himدُوْنِهٖ ؕbesides HimبَلِNayالظّٰلِمُوْنَthe wrongdoersفِیْ(are) inضَلٰلٍerrorمُّبِیْنٍ۠clear

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Translation of Verse 1-11In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

(31:1) Alif. Lam. Mim.

(31:2) These are the verses of the Wise Book,¹

(31:3) a guidance and mercy for the doers of good,²

(31:4) who establish Prayer and pay Zakah, and have firm faith in the Hereafter.³

(31:5) It is they who are on true guidance from their Lord, and it is they who shall prosper.⁴

(31:6) There are some human beings⁵ who purchase an enchanting diversion⁶ in order to lead people away from the way of Allah without having any knowledge,⁷ who hold the call to the Way of Allah to ridicule.⁸ A humiliating chastisement awaits them.⁹

(31:7) When Our verses are recited to such a person, he arrogantly turns away, as though he had not heard them, or as though there was a deafness in his ears. So announce to him the tidings of a grievous chastisement.

(31:8) Surely those who believe and do good deeds shall have Gardens of Bliss. ¹⁰

(31:9) They shall abide in them forever. This is Allah's promise that shall come true. He is the Most Powerful, the Most Wise.¹¹

(31:10) He¹² created the heavens without any pillars visible to you¹³ and He placed mountains in the earth as pegs lest it should turn topsy turvy with you,¹⁴ and He dispersed all kinds of animals over the earth, and sent down water from the sky causing all kinds of excellent plants to grow on it.

(31:11) Such is Allah's creation. Show me, then, what any others, apart from Allah, have created.¹⁵ Nay, the fact is that the wrong-doers are in manifest error.¹⁶

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Commentary

1. That is, this is the Book whose verses are permeated with wisdom, the Book whose every part is full of beneficial insights.

2. The Qur’anic verses guide people to the Straight Way and represent God’s mercy to mankind. However, it is only those who adopt good conduct and who seek righteousness and virtue that can benefit from God’s guidance and mercy. The distinguishing characteristic of such people is that when they are warned against evil, they desist from it.

Likewise, when they are informed what the ways of goodness are, they follow them: As for the wicked who relish evil, they will neither benefit from Qur’anic guidance nor receive any portion of God’s mercy.

3. This does not mean that those described here as “doers of good” have none other than these three qualities — that they establish Prayer, pay zakah and firmly believe in the Hereafter. Here, some people are first characterized as “doers of good” so as to allude to the fact that they are — the ones who desist from all the evils the Qur’an forbids and perform all good works it enjoins. This is followed by identifying the following three chief qualities of these “doers of good”, the reason being that all good works proceed from them: (i) They establish Prayer as a result of which they develop God-consciousness, and their sense of being God-fearing becomes second nature. (ii) They pay zakah, which strengthens in them the spirit of sacrifice and selfless concern for others. It also helps them suppress excessive love of worldly objects and prompts them to earnestly seek to please God. (iii) They also have firm belief in the Hereafter which imbues them with a sense of accountability so that they do not behave like unbridled animals left free to graze in green pastures. Instead, their conduct reflects a responsible attitude worthy of a human being, whereby.

they are acutely aware that they should act with full consciousness of being their Lord’s servants to Whom they are accountable for all their deeds.

Viewed in this context, these “doers of good” are not those who would do good works accidentally and who would feel equally free to commit evil. On the contrary, the three qualities mentioned above institute in them a system of belief and morality from which good works flow as a matter of course. Whenever they lapse and commit some evil, it is by way of accident. They are not then impelled towards evil because of any driving factor inherently rooted in their belief system.

4. At the time of the revelation of these verses, the unbelieving Makkans thought and publicly stated that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) and his followers were set on a course of self-destruction.

The Qur’an refutes this contention and asserts that, contrary to their supposition, the believers were not doomed to suffer loss or destruction; rather, they would succeed and prosper. It is also those who refuse to believe that will fail to achieve success and prosperity.

Were one to interpret the Qur’anic concept of falah (prosperity) purely in material and mundane terms, one would be committing a serious error. In order to correctly understand this term, readers should peruse the following Qur’anic verses along with the relevant explanatory notes in this work: al-Baqarah 2:2-5, Al Imran 3:102, 130 and 200; al-Mda‘idah 5:35 and 90; al-An ‘am 6:21; al-A ‘raf 7:7-8 and 157; al-Tawbah 9:88; Yunus 10:17; al-Nahl 16:116; al-Hajj 22:77; al -Mu’ minun 23:1 and 117, al-Nur 24:51 and al-Rum 30:38.

5. Some people are fortunate enough to draw upon God’s guidance and mercy. By contradistinction are the wicked who not only fail to do so, but who even contrive to lure people away from the Straight Way.

6. The words in the text are “lahw al-hadith” which suggest an amusement or diversion that completely absorbs people, making them oblivious to everything around them. This expression is used to denote those things that are worthless, perverse or vile such as gossip, jest, vain tales, bootless fiction, dissolute singing and dancing, and other similar forms of amusement.

The expression “purchasing an enchanting diversion” can also be considered to mean opting for falsehood at the cost of truth or God’s Guidance and embracing things that neither bring any good in the present life nor in the Next.

This, however, is the figurative sense of the expression. Literally speaking, it simply means to spend one’s money on things that are _ vile and perverse. Several traditions corroborate this meaning of the verse. Ibn Hisham, for instance, narrated a tradition on Muhammad ibn Ishaq’s authority that when the Prophet's message began to spread despite the efforts of the Quraysh, al-Nadr ibn al-Harith told the Quraysh how to counter it. He said that the manner in which they were trying to oppose the Prophet's call would prove of no avail. After all, he had lived all his life and had reached middle age in their midst and was known to be the best of them as regards moral conduct. He was also the most truthful and trustworthy of them. It was only after Muhammad had declared himself to be God's Messenger that the same people who had held him in the highest esteem began to variously dub him as a soothsayer, a sorcerer, a poet and one devoid of sanity. Yet he could not be called a sorcerer for there was no trace of the sorcerers hocus pocus in him. Nor was there any resemblance between him and soothsayers who are known for their mumbo jumbo and rhymed exclamations.

Nor could he be identified as a poet for people knew only too well what poetry was like. Nor did he seem to betray insanity or any of the states associated with it. Hence, no one would believe such statements about Muhammad and none would desert him on account of descriptions of him as a soothsayer, sorcerer, poet or madman. Al-Nadr ibn al-Harith therefore volunteered to do something he considered effective in preventing the spread of Islam’s message. For this purpose, he went to Iraq and brought back interesting tales about the Persian royalty and such fabulous personalities as Rustam and Asfandyar. After his return, he held _ sessions in which these tales were narrated to wean people away from the Qur’an and absorb them in amusing stories. (See Ibn Hisham, Sirah, Vol. 1, pp. 320-321.) Al-Wahidi narrated substantially the same on the authority of al- Kalbi and Muqatil in his Asbab al-Nuzul. In addition to this Ibn ‘Abbas says that Nadr ibn Harith also purchased slave girls adept at singing and dancing to turn people’s attention away from the Qur’an. Whenever he learned that someone was attracted by the Prophet's message, he would ask one of these slave girls to take care of him. In this respect, she was directed feed him sumptuously, enchant him with melodious songs and so distract his attention from the Prophet's message. (See Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, Lubab al-Naqul fi Asbab al-Nuzul, II edn., Cairo: Mustafa al-Bab al-Halabi, n.d., p. 172 ~ Ed.) Proponents of evil have resorted to similar devices throughout history.

They have always tried to engross people in play and amusement, music and dance, euphemistically calling them “cultural” activities. They do so in order to prevent people from paying heed to the serious problems of life. Thanks to the inebriation caused by these amusements, the victims lose all awareness that they are being driven towards destruction.

Many Companions and Successors have also given the same explanation of lahw al-hadith. On being asked to explain what the actual expression meant, ‘Abd Allah ibn Mas ‘ud emphatically stated on three occasions: “By God, it means singing. ” (See al-Bayhaqi, al-Sunan al- Kubra, Bab: Ma ja’ min al-Ma ‘asi min al-Ma ‘azif wa al-Mazamir; al-Hakim al-Nisaburi, al-Mustadrak, K. al-Tafsir, Bab: Tafsir Surah Luqman, comments on Luqman 31:6; Tabari, Tafsir, comments on Luqman 31:6; Ibn Abi Shaybah, Musannaf, K. al-Buyu‘, Bab: Li hadhihi al-Ayah wa min al-Nas ...; Tabari, Tafsir, comments on Luqman 31:6 — Ed.) Similar views have also been reported from ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abbas, Jabir ibn ‘Abd Allah, Mujahid, ‘Ikrimah, Sa ‘id ibn Jubayr, al-Hasan al-Basri and Makhul. Ibn Jarir al- Tabari, Ibn Abi Hatim and al-Tirmidhi have reported on the authority of Abu Umamah al-Bahili that the Prophet (peace be on him) said: “It is not lawful to buy and sell singing girls, or to trade in them, or to subsist on their [i.e., singing girls’] earnings.” In another version, the last part of the tradition has the following words: “It is not lawful to subsist on their earnings.” Abu Umamah also narrated another tradition according to which the Prophet (peace be on him) said: “It is not lawful to instruct - slave girls in singing and dancing, or to trade in them, and it is prohibited to accept their earnings”. These three traditions also specify that the verse, “There are some human beings who purchase an enchanting diversion ....” was revealed with regard to these damsels whose occupation was to sing and dance. Abu Bakr ibn al-‘Arabi records the following hadith narrated by ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak and Imam Malik on the authority of Anas ibn Malik: “The Prophet (peace be on him) said: Anyone who sits in the concert of a singing girl will have molten lead poured into his ears on the Day of Judgement.” (Ibn al-‘Arabi, Ahkam al-Qur’an, comments on Luqman 31:6 — Ed.) It is pertinent to add in this regard that the whole-culture of singing and dancing in those days was wholly dependent on slave girls. Free women had not yet assumed the role of “artists”. It is for this reason that the Prophet (peace be on him) made a pointed reference to the sale and purchase of singing damsels, using the term thaman (price) to denote the fee they charged. Significantly, he also used the word qaynah, meaning “slave girl” for them.

7. That the unbelievers’ action is “without having any knowledge” either qualifies the phrase “purchasing an enchanting diversion” or the phrase “in order to lead people away from the way of Allah”. If the words “without having any knowledge” are taken to qualify “purchasing an enchanting diversion”, the verse would mean that because of ignorance a person is so lured to this enchanting diversion without realizing that they are losing something as precious as faith.

The irony of the situation was that on the one hand people had access to the Qur’anic verses permeated with wisdom and true guidance just for the asking. Yet, they still turned away from them. On the other hand the same people sought perverse diversions, which they acquired at hefty prices, even though they were bound to vitiate their thinking and ruin their morality.

Alternatively, the expression “without having any knowledge” might be taken to qualify the phrase: “to lead people away from the way of Allah”. In this case, the verse would mean that a person had taken it upon himself to guide others even though he himself lacked knowledge and was unaware that he had incurred a heavy and sinful burden by trying to mislead God’s creatures from His way.

8. This unbeliever sought to engross people in various entertaining stories, dance and music. He had a contemptuous attitude towards the verses revealed by God and sought to drown the Qur’an’s message in a sea of laughter and mirth. No sooner had the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) recited a Qur’anic verse than he would arrange for concerts of beautiful damsels to enchant people with their melodies. Such was this unbeliever’s strategy to immerse people in amusements, so that they were no longer in the mood to attend to anything serious — be it God, the Hereafter or morality.

9. That is, the unbelievers will be recompensed with humiliating chastisements in keeping with the gravity of their crimes. This, because they brazenly blasphemed the faith God prescribed, reviled the verses He revealed, and heaped insults on the Messenger He raised.

10. Here, the believers are not simply being promised the “bliss of Paradise”; rather, they are being promised “Gardens of Bliss”. Had the former expression been used, it would have meant that they would enjoy the delights of the Gardens of Paradise. However, this falls short of saying that the Gardens of Paradise would be theirs. Hence why the present verse goes even beyond this. It says that they shall have “Gardens of Bliss”. The message conveyed here is quite unmistakable. They are being told that whole Gardens full of bliss will be bestowed upon them and that they will enjoy the delights of these Gardens as their owners rather — than as those simply entitled to enjoy their delights while the Gardens belonged to someone else.

11. Nothing can deter God from fulfilling His promise. Moreover, whatever He does is fully in accord with the requirements of justice and wisdom. The Quranic assertion that “This is Allah’s promise that shall” come true”, is followed by specifically mentioning two attributes of God: His being the Most Powerful and the Wisest. This underscores the fact that God neither goes back on His promise of His own accord nor can any power deter Him from fulfilling it. Therefore, there is no reason for anyone to entertain any fear that he will be denied the reward promised to those who believe and do good works. Moreover, God’s proclamation of this reward is anchored in His wisdom and justice. Hence, He will not reward any who does. not deserve it. Furthermore, those who believe and do good works are bound to be rewarded because they deserve to be so recompensed.

12. These preliminary observations are followed by stating the real purpose of the discourse ~ refutation of polytheism and invitation to monotheism.

13. That God has “created the heavens without any pillars visible to you” is open to two interpretations. First, that man himself can observe that the heavens are without any pillars to support them. Second, that although the heavens are supported by pillars, these are not visible to man. The latter interpretation is preferred by ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abbas and Mujahid. Quite a few other Qur’anic commentators, however, subscribe to the former interpretation.

‘Were one to explain this Qur’anic statement in the light of modern scientific knowledge, it would be said that countless stars and planets of colossal magnitude have been placed in their respective orbits in the heavens without any visible props. These heavenly bodies are not bound by any cable, nor are there any visible barriers preventing them from falling on one another. It is only the law of gravity that keeps the entire system in its place.

This interpretation reflects the extent of our present knowledge.

With the passage of time as our knowledge advances, perhaps it will be possible to offer an even more plausible explanation of the reality under discussion.

14. For details see Towards Understanding the Qur’an, Vol. IV, al-Nahl 16: n. 12, p. 317.

15. The unbelievers are challenged to identify what their deities had created. Those same deities which, according to their fancy, had the power to make or mar their destiny and which they insisted on worshipping.

16. The unbelievers were unable to point to anything that their deities had created. Therefore, nothing other than sheer irrationality explained their ascribing Divinity to such deities, their subservient prostrations before them, or their invocations of them to fulfil their needs. Only those who are totally devoid of common sense would accept in one breath that their deities lack the power to create anything and that God alone is the Creator of everything, and still insist in the other, that those same powerless deities ought to be worshipped. Any person with even an iota of understanding is bound to ask: why worship an object that is altogether devoid of creative power and that does not have even a minimal part in creating a single thing in the heavens and the earth? Why prostrate before such a thing, making it the object of reverential devotion? Why treat it as a deity when it does not have the power to hear its devotees’ petitions and is in any case powerless to fulfil any needs? Being absolutely powerless, it can obviously neither make nor mar anyone’s destiny.